TechStat: A new way to manage IT projects

President Obama’s Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra has initiated a new accountability process to reduce waste and manage the success of federal IT projects.
TechStat accountability sessions will inform management decisions with a “data-driven, action-focused and results-oriented” process, evaluating federal IT projects across an array of project metrics to satisfy President Obama’s priorities:

Manage IT investments effectively.
Leverage… »

President Obama harnessing the power of data to create better policy, and higher performing government services

“Whether it’s health care, education or even the war in Afghanistan, the president and his team are big believers in the power of information” (NPR, 1/01/2010).
Okay, so it’s kind of a lame story beginning with pedometers, but cute or novelty is what one can generally expect from NPR. That said, it’s clear that President Obama… »

An engine for increasing the velocity of democracy

It’s an accepted truth that a healthy democracy requires citizens who participate in the civic life of their communities, and who engage with government institutions. But while civic participation is vital for a healthy democracy, it’s an inadequate prescription.
Government institutions also have to effectively engage and respond to citizen concerns, and by extension, government institutions… »

President Obama: A “presumption of openness”

What does President Obama think about government transparency?
The three principles of transparency, participation, and collaboration form the cornerstone of an open government. Transparency promotes accountability by providing the public with information about what the Government is doing. Participation allows members of the public to contribute ideas and expertise so that their government can make policies… »

President Obama uses the new IT dashboard

An image posted on White House CTO Vivek Kundra’s blog shows his boss using the new IT spending… »

IT dashboard halts 45 wasteful Veteran’s Affairs projects

The Department of Veteran’s affairs halted 45 IT projects totaling $200 million in fiscal year 2009 alone, the nation’s Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra announced on his blog today.
Kundra wrote that one of the projects was 110% over budget and 17 months behind schedule.
The VA will audit the projects in the coming weeks to… »

$70 billion in federal IT spending at a glance

President Obama’s CIO, Vivek Kundra, unveiled a new IT contracting dashboard yesterday at the Personal Democracy Forum conference in New York City.
Project managers and the public alike can now see an instant assessment of how well, or how poorly, $70 billion in federal IT investments are being managed.
The Federal IT Dashboard is an… »

Barack the community organizer returns with a pledge of support

President Obama announced a community solutions agenda yesterday, naming Melody Barnes to be his new director of the Domestic Policy Council. Her mission is to travel around the country to discover great non-profit initiatives that are helping to strengthen communities.
Obama also proposed to Congress a $50 million innovation fund included in the Edward M. Kennedy… »

Complete, primary, timely, accessible, machine processable, non-discriminatory, non-proprietary, license-free

These are eight principles to follow in releasing government data, recommended by the public to inform President Obama’s Open Government Initiative.
The Open Government Brainstorm event was the first of three phases of public comment hosted by the National Academy of Public Administration to elicit suggestions for more transparent, participatory, and collaborative government.
An abridged list of… »

Obama tears down the iron curtain blocking government information

The Challenge
Data produced by government agencies are often hard to find or are published in proprietary formats of limited utility. As a result, a wealth of information remains untapped by the ingenuity and creativity of the American people.
The Solution
Data.gov is a citizen-friendly platform that provides access to Federal datasets. With a searchable data catalog, Data.gov… »